Category: EDUC 390

ADHD, ODD, MENTAL HEALTH, & TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURIES

Sara McManus

School of Education, University of Northern British Columbia
EDUC 336: Inclusive Education
Melanie Baerg, M.Ed. – Lecturer
August 7, 2022

Wow – this is a new one for me: I have never disliked a reading, podcast, or video assigned in a course as much as I do right now. Thomas E. Brown, Ph.D., Associate Director of Yale Clinic for Attention and Related Disorders, rubbed me the wrong way as soon as he said, “…this cluster of difficulties that we speak about as attention deficit disorder is a problem with the unfolding of the management system of the brain” (Understood, 2015, 0:35).  I think it was how he emphasized the word “problem” because I strongly feel like ADHD is not a problem in any form – physical, cognitive, or otherwise. I also found it difficult and distracting listening to him repeatedly use the term ADD, despite his reference to the words being used interchangeably. He only gets a pass in my book because the videos are slightly outdated. (((OMG – I just got that for the first time “a pass in my book.” It’s a teacher’s expression!))) Brown makes ADHD sound like a genetically inherited memory problem that makes it so you can’t manage your daily life. Therefore, you can only pay attention to one or two things in your life (1:25). Throughout his ADHD videos, Brown tends to make vast generalizations about people with ADHD. I find his generalizations fairly demeaning in nature. I am thankful he could clearly describe that the diagnosis process for ADHD is not simply a checklist in his video How is ADHD Diagnosed  (Understood, 2016). I was impressed by the vast amount of information available on the Understood website and the format of how the links led me down paths of related information (Understood for All Inc., 2022).

In comparison, I would give the infographic from the Canadian ADHD Resource Alliance a two-thumbs-up review (but it’s too bad their acronym doesn’t match their name) (CADDRA, 2021). I felt like it validated everything I knew and would need to know as someone new to working with students with ADHD. The only point I may argue is the “lives with” language. Myles Himmelreich advocates for the ending of the phrase “lives with FASD” by telling a story where a friend pokes fun at him – asking if his FASD lives with him and does it pay rent. (Sask. Prevention Intervention, 2020, 33:30). It is a simple and compelling argument that I tend to agree is valid.

My favourite takeaway from the Disruptive Behaviour Disorder reading was: “…not all kids with ADHD have an ongoing pattern of negative behaviour. Kids with ADHD may react to their environment and get upset. But kids with disruptive behaviour disorder seem to be looking for arguments and ways to break the rules and rebel (Morin, n.d.). Sometimes it is hard not to place kids into categories (aka diagnose them) yourself. I have only had one youth in my care with a disruptive behaviour disorder. He was a scout diagnosed with ODD, and he taught me big lessons about what people think is ODD and how ODD really presents in a child, and I am smart enough to know that every child with ODD will be very different. I don’t believe in regret; I think that things also happen for a reason. I don’t know what happened to that boy after he left our group, but he is the only child that I let someone else convince me I was not strong enough to lead. I let this person persuade me that I didn’t have the background knowledge or skill to work with this youth and that boy was taking my time away from the other kids, and that wasn’t fair. It still upsets me to this day because of all the kids in my group, he probably needed us most. I’m thankful that other adult isn’t my mentor anymore. I am glad that I have outgrown him and can see the damage done by people motivated by the wrong reasons.

Students’ mental health – this could be an enormous paper all on its own. The resources provided were excellent links that I will keep for future reference. I consider myself an open book. I’m not too fond of secrets and tend to overshare everything. Being that way made it very easy for me to talk about mental health with my students at the alternate school. All my students knew that I have stress-related anxiety when things change suddenly and that I struggle with depression. Both of these are a result of my Breast Cancer diagnosis and ongoing life with it. Of course, I didn’t sit them down on the first day and share it with them like that, it just came out over time, and I invited them to ask questions. It allowed them to feel safe to talk with me about their mental health, and they knew I was sincere when I empathized with them about their lives. I have found that my openness is always there, but I can edit my story for different age groups.  My younger scouts know far less about me, but as they get older and seek support from me, sharing my story allows them space to do the same. It is similar in classrooms where I frequently work. For instance, one of the grade five classes I was covering last year was noticing my backwards words. Once I explained that I have cancer and that a long time ago, the chemotherapy medication broke a few of my neuropathways, and my brain is still working on re-wiring itself, they empathized with me and shared things about themselves. This, in turn, provided us with a connection on which we built a classwide foundation for a relationship to accept each other’s mistakes. I find that sharing my vulnerabilities with learners, whether I am only there for a few days or a long time, allows students to find safety in my presence. On the flip side, making any declaration by itself does not buy you anything.

I suppose that leads a little bit into traumatic brain injury. The article Classroom Interventions for Students with Traumatic Brain Injuries was a good read (Bowen, 2008). I appreciated how it highlighted the vast differences in how brain injuries affect students and that every student’s life afterwards and a potential path to recovery will be different. I found it odd that it went onto an example of a case study of one specific student and their classroom interventions only to conclude again with: “To develop programs that will facilitate a successful school reentry, educators must work together to develop a comprehensive plan based on each child’s individual strengths and weaknesses.” I did, however, really like the valuable tips, especially: “use a direct statement telling the student to start (rather than stop) a behaviour” (Bowen, 2008). It would work with all students – UDL!!!

References

Bowen, J. M. (2008, July 25). Classroom Interventions for Students with Traumatic Brain Injuries. Retrieved August 07, 2022, from https://www.brainline.org/article/classroom-interventions-students-traumatic-brain-injuries

CADDRA. (2021, December). Talking About ADHD. Retrieved from Canadian ADHD Resource Association: https://www.caddra.ca/wp-content/uploads/Copy-of-ADHD-Language-Guide-Infographic_ DEC2021_CADDRA.pdf

Morin, A. (n.d.). The difference between disruptive behavior disorders and ADHD. Understood for All Inc. Retrieved August 06, 2022, from https://www.understood.org/en/articles/the-difference-between-disruptive-behavior-disorders-and-adhd

Sask. Prevention Intervention. (2020, November 04). FASD: Let’s Change the Conversation and Challenge the Stigma. [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved July 26, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=Zb5A6eR_0XU&t=2120s

Understood. (2015, October 30). What Is ADHD? Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Explained. [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved August 02, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVZ2qbMgMPs&t=37s

Understood. (2016, January 16). How is ADHD Diagnosed? [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved August 05, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rH4UzMcbmjU

Understood for All Inc. . (2022). Retrieved from Understood.org: https://www.understood.org